Secrets in the Dark
by Tegaladwen
Summary: Emma's having nightmares about her past. Can Killian come to her rescue? Takes place in Neverland, early season 3. Warnings inside.


**A/N: This story takes place in Neverland, early season 3.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time (I know, surprising). :)**

**Pairing: Captain Swan or Pre-Captain Swan, whichever way you choose to look at it...**

**Warnings: A tiny bit of vulgar language. Mention of rape throughout the chapter. VERY brief mention of suicide (not of a major character).**

**I hope you like it!**

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Hook jolted awake to a voice, whimpering softly, carried over to him by the wind. _What the hell?_

He glanced around the camp. David and Snow White were tangled in each other's arms, as always. Regina was fast asleep, face almost angry. As usual.

His eyes traveled automatically to Emma, tossing and turning on the rough ground about ten feet away from him. Hook looked closer, noticing her lips moving. She looked like she was in pain.

Shit. It was her making the agonized sounds.

He hopped to his feet, walking over to her. He couldn't pretend he hadn't heard her thrash in her dreams before. Almost every day since they had gotten to the bloody island, her dreams had been riddled with nightmares. Every time, he had cringed with every small gasp, every sound he could barely hear. They always passed quickly however, gone before he could make it to her. But today was different. Her nightmare was worse, more intense. So intense, in fact, that tears were threatening to run down her face in her sleep.

Killian crouched next to her. He was about to wake her up when he noticed that she was talking. He paused, cursing the pirate inside him as he eavesdropped on a conversation he was never supposed to hear. He sighed, listening to her distraught words.

"Stop, please, please, stop! I'll be good, I promise! I'll do everything right! I'll keep my room clean, I'll cook dinner, I'll- please, please don't! Give me another chance, please! No, no, no, no, not again, no! Just let me sleep tonight, let me be alone, please, I promise I'll- NO, NO, STOP! That hurts, it hurts, please stop!"

What was this? A memory? It certainly sounded like it. What was happening? He winced as she whimpered again. He hated seeing her in pain. "Swan," Killian whispered, his good hand hovering over her shoulder, wondering whether it was safer to wake her or let the nightmare wake her on its own. His experience with nightmares (unfortunately, he was well versed on the topic) had taught him that sometimes, it was better to let them run their course instead of cutting them short. It lessened the risk of the vivid images reappearing to haunt you again. He wrestled with himself.

Voice shuddering, Emma talked in her sleep once more, this time in a pained whimper. "Please let me go," she stopped. "Dad."

_What the hell? _Killian whipped his head around towards David. He had just started to trust the heroic man. What had the eloquent Prince Charming done to her?

He began to get to his feet. But wait, what if it wasn't David she was talking about? After all, this was _Neverland. _People here had a special affinity for staying young. So, naturally, when adults visited, their minds flashed back to days long past. So what if this was another father? A childhood father? Killian knew that Emma didn't grow up with her biological parents. And he didn't exactly hear the Savior calling David "Dad" that often, anyway.

His thought process was abruptly interrupted by Emma, who began violently thrashing on the ground, fighting off invisible demons in her dreams.

"Emma! Emma!" he said quietly, so as not to wake the others. He had to wake her now before she hurt herself. He gripped her arm, holding it down. Unfortunately, he couldn't pin down the other one, what with his missing hand and all.

Surprised at her decreased mobility, Emma awoke with a start, eyes wide and panicky. Violently, she fought him, throwing his arm off of hers. She sat up quickly.

"Emma" Killian cried out in astonishment. "Emma, love, it's me! It's Hook! It's Killian Jones!"

Her fight fading, she finally saw him. "Hook?" she asked, glancing around as if she was still trying to figure out where she was.

"Yes, love. It's Hook," he replied warily.

She smiled sheepishly, but her eyes were still terrified. "Sorry about that."

"Care to tell me what's going on?" he asked. The tremors in her voice didn't escape his attention.

Her eyes abruptly lost their frightened tone. "No, actually, I don't." She turned away from him.

Hook reached out to grab her arm, but pulled back when she flinched at his touch. "Emma, you sounded like you were fighting off someone. You were screaming in your sleep."

"It was just a nightmare, Hook, go back to bed," she replied, but Killian didn't believe it. Emma put her head in her shaking hands, taking a few deep breaths.

"No, it wasn't, love," he whispered, reaching out to place a comforting hand on her shoulder. She shied away from him once more. "That didn't sound like a regular nightmare." He paused, looking for some sort of reaction. "You know, sometimes the best way to get them to go away is to talk to someone."

Something like a laugh sounded in Emma's throat. "Like you would know," she said, voice trembling a little bit. She was still scared.

"Unfortunately, lass, I do know." When she still didn't respond, he continued, "It's okay to be vulnerable sometimes, Emma."

She looked up at him, expression full of agony and fear. Killian was taken aback by the tears in her eyes, and by how unguarded she was. He wanted to reach out and touch her, pull her in close, but his hand remained clenched tightly on his lap.

Killian watched a range of emotions play out on her face. She was deciding whether or not to trust him.

"Do you really want to know, Hook?" she asked, voice shuddering under the weight of unshed tears. "Because I can promise you, you'll never look at me the same way after I tell you."

Killian's eyebrows drew together. What could her secret possibly be? Slowly, his eyes on Emma's, he curled his hand around one of hers. This time, she didn't flinch away, though she watched him warily. "Of course I want to know, darling," he whispered.

Emma glanced away for a moment, a lone tear carving its way down the planes of her face.

"Swan," he whispered. He wanted to do something, he wanted to help her. But he didn't know how he could.

"I've never told this to anyone, Hook."

Killian nodded in understanding. He had no desire to share her secret.

Emma sighed and looked down at their clasped hands, deciding how to begin. She bit her lip. Finally, she whispered, "Do you know what rape is, Killian?"

Hook exhaled quickly, heart leaping in his chest. His grip tightened involuntarily on Emma's fingers. _Rape_. That's what this was about._ It hurts, it hurts, please stop! _Her nightmare-ridden voice sounded in his head.

Killian had known a boy, a good boy, who had gone through that awful experience at the hands of a drunken sailor. Afterwards, it was like he was empty. Killian, being little more than a child himself, had pestered him until he revealed his secret, then avoided the boy altogether when he didn't know how to respond. When they saw each other again almost a year later, the boy had stopped talking altogether. It was like he had left his body, leaving an empty shell behind. Eventually, he cut his own arms so deeply that he bled out on the street. To think that _Emma _had gone through that same horrible experience...

Emma still didn't look up at him as her fingers tightened on his.

"When I was twelve, I went to a new family. A single guy. He said he wanted a foster daughter, and he took me home. His name was Larry." She paused for a moment.

Hook ran his thumb over the back of her hand briefly, trying to comfort her.

A mirthless smile graced her face momentarily, and she continued. "At first it was alright, living with him. He wanted me to call him Dad, and I did. He'd have me doing chores, and I was okay with that. He would hug me, and kiss me, and comfort me when I cried," Emma's voice broke.

Once she composed herself, she continued. "Then, I forgot to make my bed once, and I apologized over and over, but he still got mad, and he h-hit me."

Killian's hand tightened on hers. He wanted to say something, but what was there to say?

"And it just got worse. He started telling me I'd forgotten things when I hadn't, or he would h-hurt me for forgetting things he hadn't even told me to do. And then he started coming in my room at night," her voice faded out for a second as more tears dripped from her face, one of them falling on Killian's hand.

"He would m-m-molest me, and tell me that it was my fault, that I had done those things to him, made him f-feel a-aroused on purpose. And I tried to stop, but I couldn't, and he kept doing it. He would t-touch me and t-touch himself, and I _tried_," she stopped talking as her voice broke again.

Killian felt sick. How could someone do this to her? A _child_, twelve years old. How? He wanted to throw up. Tears had started falling down his face, too. Emma had to know that this wasn't her fault. That man,_ Larry_, had done something so wrong, so awful, and it had scarred her, probably irreversibly. "Emma, I-" he started, voice breaking.

"And then, one night, it got really bad," she began again, cutting him off. "He had gone out to drink, and he came back really late, and his voice was slurring, and he kept saying it was _my fault, my fault_, over and over again, and he slapped me in the face, and he threw me on my bed, and I was scared, and I yelled at him to stop, but he wouldn't, and he... h-he.." Emma's voice faltered, then she broke down completely, sobbing.

Killian leaned forward, pulling Emma into an embrace. She buried her head in his shoulder, holding onto him as if he was her last hope in the world. And maybe he was.

Killian felt her body shaking with sobs underneath his. He stroked her back lightly, unsure of what to say.

"I... I couldn't-" she started to say.

"Emma, love, it's alright. It's going to be alright," Killian soothed her, kissing her hair.

She pulled away from him slowly and looked into his eyes. "Hook," she whispered, wiping the tears off her face. "I-I'm sorry."

Killian cocked his head slightly. "You don't have anything to be sorry for."

Emma looked away. It was obvious she didn't believe him.

She had had to carry this secret her whole life, carry the guilt that came with it. That feeling of filth that never comes off had followed Emma her whole life. And now she felt like she had somehow given it to _him._

"God, Emma, what happened to you was not your fault," he reached out to grip her hand once more, but she pulled back. Her walls were being rebuilt as they spoke.

"Swan, you did nothing wrong. You didn't _do _anything to that man. None of that guilt should be bearing down on you. Every bit of the fault is on _him_. That sick, disgusting _bastard _who did those things to you."

"Hook, I c-" she paused and looked at him once more, her gaze almost awestruck. "You really don't... look at me differently?"

Killian blinked back tears, heart in his chest at her insecurity and surprise. "Swan, of _course _not."

Emma searched his eyes for some sign of a lie, and when she found none, a small smile graced her lips. She would never have guessed that anyone, especially _Captain Hook_, would be so supportive. "Thank you," she whispered.

"Aye," Killian replied, reaching up to wipe away a few fallen tears of his own.

They stayed the way they were for a while, just sitting close to each other in silence.

Finally, Emma said softly, "Good night, Hook," Their conversation was over.

He stood up slowly and walked back to his side of the camp. "Swan. If you ever need to talk, you can come to me. I will listen."

Emma nodded as she curled herself into a ball on the ground.

"I will," he murmured, feeling the pure truth in his words as he spoke them.

Killian watched Emma's back until the rise and fall of her breaths became steady and even.

Then, the former pirate closed his eyes and attempted to get some much needed rest.

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**A/N: This will most likely be a two-shot :) I should have the second chapter up by Saturday if my writing brain continues to stay on. Until then! (Also, this is my first ever fanfiction, so I would really appreciate some feedback if you can :) Thank you very much!)**


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